Q: I am 55 and I have 25 years of creditable service. I am in CSRS Offset. What would be the penalty if I chose to retire now? A: You can’t retire now. The earliest you could be retire is when you have 30 years of service.
Browsing: Early retirement
Q: I will be 55 next year and have 17 years in service. I would like to know about early retirement and how to go about it. A: Early retirement opportunities are offered by an agency to meet its needs, There isn’t anything you can do to cause an agency to offer you one. However, all that is academic. You don’t have the age and service needed to take early retirement: age 50 with 20 years of service or any age with 25. Further, you aren’t yet eligible to retire under the MRA+10 provision (minimum retirement age with at least…
Q: I took early federal retirement under CSRS offset at age 50. Must I also take early Social Security at age 62? A: It’s up to you to decide if you want to apply for Social Security at age 62. Whether you do or don’t, at age 62 your CSRS annuity will be reduced (offset) by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while covered by CSRS Offset.
Q: I am a postal employee with 30 years of service at age 51. I recall the Postal Service offering years toward service as an incentive to retire. This happened in the 1990s. Do you know the history and details of such an offer? Does my memory serve me correctly, or am I just wishfully dreaming? A: You are wishfully dreaming. There is no provision in law — nor has there ever been — that would add years of service as an incentive to retire.
Q: I worked from 1977 to 1980 under CSRS. I withdrew my retirement and my time from active duty, under AGR Title 32 from 1980 to 1985. In 1985, I became an excepted employee for the National Guard until 1995. In 1995, I went to work for the USDA until now. I am now 53. I wanted to make sure my records were accurate and pay back the retirement and active-duty time. According to USDA from 1977 to 1980, I am under CSRS; 1985 to 1990 I am CSRS Offset, 1990 to present I am FERS. Can I pay back…
Q: Will the government windfall be adjusted? If I am forced out of the postal service, which I started in in 1980 and I am 52 years old, with only about 55 percent of my high-3 years (about $30,000 a year), this will not be enough for me to retire on. I will be forced to work at least part time, since I cannot collect Social Security. Without deducting 2/3 of my CSRS retirement, it seems I will be forced to work the rest of my life. This was not my plan. If we are forced to retire before we…
Q: If you accept an early retirement with VSIP at age 54, then there is no COLA increase until age 62. How is the annuity computed at 62? Do the COLA increases accumulate over those eight years? A: No, they don’t accumulate. The annuity you receive when you retire will remain frozen until you reach age 62, at which point you’ll be eligible for your first cost-of-living increase.
Q: I work for the post office, I have 20 years in service and four years military that I have bought back, so 24 years total time. I have a 76-year-old mother who is recovering from cancer and will need in-home care. The post office offered early outs, 25 years of service at any age, to clerks and management but not to carriers like myself. Is there someone I could petition to have the post office extend the early out to me so I can take care of my mother? Hardship retirement? A: By law, offers of early retirement are…
Q: I am 55 and have 28 years of service under FERS. I was involuntarily downgraded in 2002 from a GS-7 position (step 7) to a GS-4 position (step 00) with safe pay, no step increases in the 10 years since this happened, and receiving only half the cost of living. This occurred because of a contracting study which was done and in which my directorate won the study over the bidding contractors followed by a handful of directorate employees choosing who would leave the directorate and be involuntarily placed into whatever was chosen for them. I received no assistance…
Q: I am 57 with four years of military buyback and 18 years of uninterrupted federal service. I am confused about eligibility for the special retirement supplement. Some say I am eligible if VERA is implemented, others say eligibility requirements state that only those eligible for an “unreduced” retirement are eligible, which of course would exclude MRA+10 retirees like myself. Please clarify for me. A: Those who retire under the MRA+10 provision aren’t eligible to receive the special retirement supplement. Those who meet the age and service requirements for early retirement and accept an offer to do that are eligible,…